master writer #1–jennifer brown, hate list

For the next weeks I’m going to profile different kidlit books whose authors have mastered some aspect of their writing in a particularly stupendous way. These are the books I go to when I’m stuck in revisions and need a refresher course.

A gut-wrenching YA, The Hate Listis about the aftermath of a school shooting. Valerie and Nick, two high school outcasts who find each other, are bullied by just about everyone else in the school. As a way to blow off steam they keep a running list of people who treat them badly–the “hate list”. Near the end of junior year, Nick cracks. He shoots up the school, killing kids, using the hate list as a guide. Even though Valerie saved a classmate she’s implicated in the deed. She helped write the hate list. She loved Nick. How responsible is she? How much guilt does she bear?

JENNIFER BROWN’S SUPERPOWER

She can make you feel sympathy for her villain.

Can you imagine a more unsympathetic character than a mass-murderer?

Don’t get me wrong, Jennifer doesn’t excuse Nick’s actions. Or blame them on society. But she does give us a reason to lament the loss of his soul. Nick is by turns repulsive and endearing.

1. The poor, misunderstood villain is a great way to stir up sympathy. Jennifer does it here, by CONTRASTING WHAT SOCIETY BELIEVES ABOUT THE VILLAIN vs WHAT THE NARRATOR KNOWS

How could Valerie have loved such an awful monster? Jennifer takes us back to when Nick and Valerie meet:

Oh, Juliet. Have you seen Jennifer speak? She was bullied in high school, and has an interesting story to tell. And she also calls on all her fans to be agents of change–to reach out to the kids who are being ignored. She is super spiffy.

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The role of a writer is not to say what we all can say, but what we are unable to say. ~Anaïs Nin

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